Figure 1618

Data from the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study on immunosuppressive therapy and functioning grafts at selected times. The median daily dose of prednisone decreased from 0.28 mg/kg at 6 months to 0.17 mg/kg at 36 months, and then to 0.15 mg/kg at 5 years after transplantation. Alternate-day prednisone was prescribed to 9% of recipients at 6 months, 17% at 12 months, 24% at 24 months, and

27% at 48 months after transplantation. The daily dose of azathioprine did not change over time. The mean dose of cyclosporine has increased over the years in the most recent reported study: the mean 1-year dosages after transplantation were 6.5, 7.0, 7.7, and 8.0 mg/kg/d for transplantations occurring in 1987, 1989, 1991, and 1993, respectively. (From Warady and coworkers [5]; with permission.)